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Translated by W. Moore and H. A. Wilson
St Gregory of Nyssa Resources Online and in Print
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6 Pages
Page 3
For all the Divine attributes, whether named or conceived, are of like rank one with another, in that they are not distinguishable in respect of the signification of their subject. For the appellation of "the Good" does not lead our minds to one subject, and that of "the Wise," or "the Mighty," or "the Righteous" to another, but the thing to which all the attributes point is one; and, if you speak of God, you signify the same Whom you understood by the other attributes. If then all the attributes ascribed to the Divine nature are of equal force as regards their designation of the subject, leading our minds to the same subject in various aspects, what reason is there that one, while allowing to the Spirit community with the Father and the Son in the other attributes, should exclude Him from the Godhead alone? It is absolutely necessary either to allow to Him community in this also, or not to admit His community in the others. For if He is worthy in the case of those attributes, He is surely not less worthy in this. But if He is "less," according to their phrase [1284] , so that He is excluded from community with the Father and the Son in the attribute of Godhead, neither is He worthy to share in any other of the attributes which belong to God. For the attributes, when rightly understood and mutually compared by that notion which we contemplate in each case, will be found to imply nothing less than the appellation of "God." And a proof of this is that many even of the inferior existences are called by this very name. Further, the Divine Scripture is not sparing in this use of the name even in the case of things incongruous, as when it names idols by the appellation of God. For it says, "Let the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth perish, and be cast down beneath the earth [1285] "; and, "all the gods of the heathen are devils [1286] "; and the witch in her incantations, when she brings up for Saul the spirits that he sought for, says that she "saw gods [1287] ." And again Balaam, being an augur and a seer, and engaging in divination, and having obtained for himself the instruction of devils and magical augury, is said in Scripture to receive counsel from God [1288] . One may show by collecting many instances of the same kind from the Divine Scripture, that this attribute has no supremacy over the other attributes which are proper to God, seeing that, as has been said, we find it predicated, in an equivocal sense, even of things incongruous; but we are nowhere taught in Scripture that the names of "the Holy," "the Incorruptible," "the Righteous," "the Good," are made common to things unworthy. If, then, they do not deny that the Holy Spirit has community with the Father and the Son in those attributes which, in their sense of special excellence, are piously predicated only of the Divine nature, what reason is there to pretend that He is excluded from community in this only, wherein it was shown that, by an equivocal use, even devils and idols share?
[1284] Reading with Oehler ei de mikroteron...estin, hoste...kechoristhai. The Paris Edit. and the Benedictine S. Basil read ei de mikroteron...estin, e hoste...choresai. "If, according to their phrase, He is too small to be capable of community," &c. Oehler's reading seems to fit better in the argument. If the new idea of "capacity" had been introduced at this point, we should expect some other phrase than metechein axion at the end of the sentence.
[1285] Cf. Jer. x. 11
[1286] Ps. xcvi. 5 (LXX.).
[1287] 1 Sam. xxviii. 13.
[1288] Num. xxii.
Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/nyssa/holy-trinity-spirit.asp?pg=3
